Mary Anne

Summary (from the publisher): In Regency London, the only way for a woman to succeed is to beat men at their own game. So when Mary Anne Clarke seeks an escape from her squalid surroundings in Bowling Inn Alley, she ventures first into the scurrilous world of the pamphleteers. Her personal charms are such, however, that before long she comes to the notice of the Duke of York. With her taste for luxury and power, Mary Anne, now a royal mistress, must aim higher. Her lofty connections allow her to establish a thriving trade in military commissions, provoking a scandal that rocks the government - and brings personal disgrace. A vivid portrait of overweening ambition, Mary Anne is set during the Napoleonic Wars and based on du Maurier's own great-great-grandmother.

 

Review: In this novel, Daphne du Maurier recounts the life of her great-great-grandmother, Mary Anne Clarke. Born in humble circumstances in London in 1776, Mary Anne married Joseph Clarke as a teenager. Although the couple had several children together, she left him when he went bankrupt and became a courtesan, eventually attracting the attention of Frederick, Duke of York, then Commander in Chief of the army. The Duke failed to provide Mary Anne with the necessary allowance to keep her and her family in the lavish style that was expected of a royal mistress and to which she had become accustomed, which led to her taking payment in exchange for securing military commission sthrough the Duke. In turn, this led Mary Anne to public scandal and personal disgrace.

 

Unlike other novels by du Maurier, such as Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel, this novel lacks the atmospheric tone and suspenseful plotline. In many ways, this novel functions as a fictionalized biography of the author's ancestor. Although Mary Anne's early years were interesting to read about, such as the cunning she displays in supporting her family when her stepfather is injured and her disastrous marriage, the book became increasingly dull, particularly the exceedingly long section that dealt with the public trial that featured Mary Anne as its star witness. The book basically functions as a blow-by-blow courtroom transcription and was spectacularly boring to read. Additionally, besides Mary Anne herself, there's very little characterization. The Duke himself, and the children she is supposedly fighting for, are basically non-entities in the background of the novel.

 

Furthermore, Mary Anne became an increasingly difficult character to like. Du Maurier attempts to justify Mary Anne's behavior by making it in the name of her children: "I'll play any game in the world that a woman can; if its sordid, or dirty, or mean, I don't give a damn. But by God, that little boy you put in a tub tonight, bawling his head off, and his sisters too, they must grow up secure, they must be safe. Whatever I've done in the past, or shall do in the future, will be for them; and heaven help any man who lets me down" (109). Although Mary Anne is admirable for seeking to support her family when men continually let her down, she becomes foolish and takes risk by publicly shaming prominent figures and embarrassing her friends and children by grasping at faint hopes of monetary gain.

 

Readers looking for another classic du Maurier novel are undoubtedly disappointed with this lackluster tale of royalty, politics, and a rejected mistress. Perhaps du Maurier would have been more successful had she told her great-great-grandmother's tale as a true biography and work of non-fiction.

Stars: 2

 

Related Title:

• My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier